Sibling Serenity Canal Day Six

by Geoff Edwards

We are anchored in the bay at Caldera, Costa Rica. It’s the costa for sure, but not rica in any sense. This apparently is a cargo pier, but they only have room for one ship at a time. Most passengers are taking the tour to San Jose, the Costa Rica capitol on the mountain top. It’s quite a haul from here. At one time there was an ancient train that made the climb. It no longer exists. I’m sure it simply rattled itself to scrap.

Reflections, the daily Crystal news sheet puts it this way:

“There are no facilities of interest within walking distance of the pier area.” Owen took a tender into port. A sign indicated what was there.

Although he saw a beautiful Flamingo and its hungry friend, he was back shortly.

Reflections confirmed.

The ships weather forecaster had us looking forward to a partly cloudy day. I told Owen it was going to rain. It did. Geoff confirmed.

After the rain shower, I took on the Promenade deck. One must walk counter clockwise.

After a bit, I got back on my feet and went to deck 10 to hit a few golf balls into a net.

Next some long putts. I’m going to challenge Owen. If I lose to him, I’ll be the putz and you won’t read about it here.

We decided late in the day to see if there was room at Prego, the ship’s Italian restaurant.

There was. Owen greeted Bruno, the man who is in charge of Prego in Italian. Owen is fluent in Italian; he even reads books in Italian. Bruno then was a find. Someone he could chat with without me knowing what they were talking about. Owen spent some time talking about this and that as we waited for a table. A bit later Bruno pulled Owen aside and explained, sotto voce, that while he understood Italian he couldn’t speak it. Owen was disappointed, but two sips later and he put it all behind him

Dinner in Prego was excellent.

They serve a mushroom soup in a bread bowl that beats all soups anywhere. The gelato is freshly made by the chefs in the kitchen. Yum.

The production show dancers have lunch on the outside Lido deck. Sitting at a table were John Ellis (lead singer) and Shane Morley, dance captain. I finished lunch and although John had left, Shane was just finishing his. As I walked by, I told him I had seen what he ate, and that I’d be watching his feet next show to see if they were slowing down. He laughed. I then told him how great he was as both a dancer and a singer. And then my friends:

“Oh I’m not a dancer, I’m the sound man.”

“I just want to add,” I quickly said, “the sound is excellent, some of the best I’ve heard.”